Untitled

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 281, 24 August 1944, Page 4

Many people, including Labour unionists, will endorse the view expressed by Mr. B. V. Cooksley at a recent meeting at Silverstream that there should be an official audit of Labour union funds. The desirability of this procedure has been frequently pointed out since union membership became compulsory, and, as Mr. Cooksley has said, there can be no understandable objection to such a safeguard unless there is something to hide. The existing position is in certain respects distinctly anomalous. Industrial trade unions are registered under the terms of the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act, 1925. This Act provides that the books of a registered society or union may be inspected “by every person having an interest in the funds,” but in respect to the systematic, responsible supervision of accounts it is merely laid down that the rules of a registered society or union “shall provide for . . . an annual or other shorter periodic audit of the accounts.” This loose provision was framed when the status aud scope of industrial unions were very different from those of today. Now that unionism is compulsory under the law, and financial membership —willing or unwilling—an obligation which every worker must shoulder, these organizations are, in a very real sense, public institutions. They have acquired permanency of existence, as long as their actions remain within the law, and their revenue is as assured and secure as is the revenue from State taxation, inasmuch as union levies are imposed, indirectly but inexorably, by statutory authority. Incidentally, compulsory unionism in the case of the larger organizations has enabled the accumulation of very substantial funds.

By driving the Japanese from the air over the Molucca Islands, General MacArthur’s forces are taking another important step in the direction of the Philippines. The Molucca or Spice Islands lie north-west by west o£ New Guinea, and midway between that country and the large East Indian island of Celebes. The report that the enemy has withdrawn his advanced air bases westward, out of Allied bomber range, suggests that he has fallen back on Celebes. This represents a withdrawal of approximately 1009 miles from New Guinea; not only that, but it is also the beginning of a movement which will enable the Allies to surround and isolate the important Javanese island groups south of the Java and Bunda SensSurabaya, Bali, Sumbawa, Flores, Timor and the rest of that long chain on the southernmost fringe of the East Indies. However, the most signiflcant fact about the newly-won air supremacy over the Moluccas is that it foreshadows ,the occupation of that group, an operation which would place General MacArthur’s striking power within 500 miles of Minandao, the large southern island of the Philippines. This, perhaps, more than any other fact about the Pacific war situation, serves to bring home the remarkable extent of the gains made by the United Nations in this vast battle area.